"What did you just say? Sentencing Chu Feng to the Wulong Underground Prison — and the eleventh level?"
"What is going on here? What crime has Chu Feng committed to deserve such a harsh punishment?"
A shrill voice rang out — it was Xia Yan.
But the moment Xia Yan spoke, an elder appeared and stood beside her.
This person was also one of the Wulong Elders.
He was Xia Yan's grandfather, Xia Zhicheng.
After Xia Zhicheng appeared, Xia Yan was as if frozen in place — her body could no longer move, and naturally she could not continue speaking. Only her eyes, filled with unwillingness and fury, kept darting about.
Everyone knew that Xia Zhicheng did not want Xia Yan to involve herself in this matter, and had used his power to restrain her.
"My Lord, Chu Feng may indeed be at fault, but his circumstances were understandable."
"Sending him to the Wulong Underground Prison — is such a punishment not far too severe?"
The Head Steward of the Northern Profound Hall also spoke up to plead on Chu Feng's behalf.
After he spoke, quite a few people looked at him with a trace of respect in their eyes.
Sounding the Sect's Dragon Bell meant this was the Sect Master's will.
To still dare speak on Chu Feng's behalf at a time like this — that took tremendous courage.
"Head Steward, Chu Feng's punishment was personally ordered by the Sect Master. No one is permitted to object."
Li Fengxian said to the Head Steward of the Northern Profound Hall.
Although the Head Steward looked thoroughly unwilling, he quickly lowered his head and stepped back.
If Li Fengxian had not made that clarification, he could have offered his own thoughts. But once Li Fengxian had explicitly stated that this was the Sect Master's will, no matter how reluctant the Head Steward was, he did not dare say another word.
In the Wulong Martial Sect, there truly was no one who dared defy the Sect Master's wishes.
Everyone turned their gaze toward Chu Feng. Some looked on with schadenfreude, others felt sympathy, and a small number who valued talent felt regret.
Many people could not understand why the Sect Master would punish Chu Feng so severely, but since this was the Sect Master's will, even if they wanted to ask, they did not dare.
"My Lord, may this disciple ask — what sort of place is this Wulong Underground Prison?"
Chu Feng had also sensed that the Wulong Underground Prison was no simple place.
So he sent a voice transmission to the Head Steward of the Northern Profound Hall, inquiring quietly.
"The Wulong Underground Prison is the most brutal prison in the entire Wulong Martial Sect."
"The first ten levels are already unbearable for ordinary people. Below the tenth level is a place that claims lives…"
"Chu Feng, beg for mercy quickly! If you beg, there may still be room for leniency."
The Head Steward also used a voice transmission to counsel Chu Feng.
But after hearing those words, Chu Feng was momentarily stunned, and a look of disbelief surfaced in his eyes.
Then he turned his gaze to Li Fengxian.
"Elder Li, has my crime truly reached the point where I must be thrown into the eleventh level of the Wulong Underground Prison?"
"Chu Feng, this is a direct order from the Sect Master," Li Fengxian said.
"Ha ha ha ha ha…"
Upon hearing this, Chu Feng burst into laughter — a cold laugh.
Just from that laughter, everyone could sense the disappointment Chu Feng felt in that moment.
"Chu Feng, you are not permitted to act willfully before the Sect's Dragon Bell."
Several elders began to rebuke Chu Feng, and their posture suggested that if he did not stop laughing, they would not hesitate to teach him a lesson.
"With this old one present, is there need for you to run your mouths?"
Li Fengxian swept his frigid gaze toward those elders who were rebuking Chu Feng.
Upon seeing this, those elders hurriedly fell silent.
Li Fengxian was not only a Wulong Elder — at this moment, he also carried the Sect Master's authority. Unless the Sect Master or the Vice Sect Master themselves arrived, no one here outranked Li Fengxian.
And yet, Chu Feng actually did stop laughing. But there was not a trace of compromise in his eyes.
"Ever since I, Chu Feng, entered the Wulong Martial Sect, I have never once sought trouble on my own."
"Even when others bullied me and caused me grief, when I was compelled to fight back, I always held myself back and stopped short of going too far."
"I was this cautious not because I, Chu Feng, am timid and afraid — but because I respected the Wulong Martial Sect. I respected this sacred place."
"Yet I never imagined that by showing such restraint, this would be my fate."
Chu Feng's gaze swept over the crowd, as though these words were addressed to every single person in the Wulong Martial Sect.
"Chu Feng, silence!"
"If you dare speak out of turn again, forget the Wulong Underground Prison — I will take your life right here."
Another person spoke. This time it was Nangong Chunyue, grandmother of Nangong Yuliu.
After Li Fengxian had already made his position clear, only someone of Nangong Chunyue's stature would still dare rebuke Chu Feng.
Yet upon being rebuked by Nangong Chunyue, Chu Feng showed not the slightest fear. Instead, he smiled contemptuously.
"Oh my — it's Elder Nangong Chunyue of the Wulong Elders."
"What's this? Didn't your grandson come along?"